We've blogged a lot about Cerebus and Elfquest, two series that did much to kickstart indie comics in the late 1970s. One an SF epic with pretty leads and high drama, the other a black-humored and misanthropic sprawl, they couldn't be more different. And yet Drew Hayes blended elements of the two perfectly to create I, Lusiphur/Poison Elves, a spirited classic in its own right that never quite got the attention it deserved.
His life cut short, dying in 2007 at only 37 years of age, Hayes left his saga of lovable gangster Lusiphur Malache unfinished.
The art was a black-and-white gothic scratchboard, and Poison Elves' mix of choppy dream sequences, drug issues, serial killers, strippers and supernatural weirdness looks rough and adolescent at first blush. But here was an energy and humor that was only just getting started: Hayes self-published his way to success (just like the Pinis and Dave Sim before him) in the early 1990s and should have had all the time in the world to refine his work and provide more comfortable attire for his characters.
Alas, it was not to be.
Hayes also worked on Overstreet price guide, Strange Attractors, Necromancer, Elfquest and others. Collections are available at Amazon
Harder to find is original artwork by Hayes; sketches seem to go for hundreds of dollars, and a a few are in circulation on eBay. Also: toys.
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